12/19/2011       

The Third Day of competition, Sunday 18th December 2011, at the Asian and Oceanic Para Table Tennis Championships in Hong Kong, saw play in the singles events conclude.

In total 19 singles events were contested with seven coming to a close on the third day of action, as a total of 178 players from 15 countries contested the medals on offer.

Not only were they striving to conclude matters on the top step of the medal podium; the aim was to gain a place in the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

China, as expected, emerged as the most successful.

Medals
They claimed 12 gold medals; Korea secured five with the host nation finishing in third place in the medal tally.

They won one gold and two bronze medals.

Surprise
Results very much as predicted but there was one surprise in the Ma On Shan Sports Centre.

In Men’s Singles Class 7, Iraq’s Saeed Ali emerged successful; he was the sixth highest world ranked player in the event and stunned everyone by securing the title.

Korean Gold
A major surprise but in the remaining events that concluded on the third day of action, matters went very much as predicted, with Korea leading the field.

Lee Chang Ho won the Men’s Singles Class 1 title and compatriot Kim Gun Young secured the Men’s Singles Class 4 crown. Meanwhile, Park Hong Gyu won gold in Men’s Singles Class 6 with Son Jun Byoung being crowned Men’s Singles Class 11 champion.

China
Four titles for Korea and there were two for China.

Zhang Bian won Men’s Singles Class 5 with Mao Jingdian securing the Men’s Singles Class 6-8 title.

Medals for Eleven Countries
A total of 11 participating associations out of a possible 15, won medals in the 19 Singles events.

Medallists at the Asian and Oceanic Para Table Tennis Championships